New Models in the News

Today there were several interesting articles and posts about new models for news and communications. In his blog, Jeff Jarvis mentioned that The American Press Institute project to find new business models for newspapers . I agree wholeheartedly with him when he says “it’s not about new models for newspapers; it’s about new models for news.”

As US news consumers are moving away from printed newspapers, the news business needs to find a way to continue to be relevant to their readers while finding a way to make money. MarketingVox points out a Nielsen/NetRatings report that websites of US newspapers have increased readership by an annual rate of 11%. This trend may continue to grow quickly as 22% of readers prefer online editions. A large number still prefer print, however the trends can’t be ignored. While online users are used to free access to news supported by Ads, many still pay for their local paper just to see what’s happening in their town. As more and more local community sites such as Bayosphere emerge, it will be interesting to see how quickly local newspaper sales are impacted. I personally prefer to read local newspapers in print just to get a feel for what's going on in my town and area. Only a small portion of the top news information is available online, yet on any given day, I usually want to see a different bit of local information from politics to highschool sports to event times or even local ads. As long as newspapers keep providing useful information to consumers (like me) - I will keep buying print media.

Speaking of new models in the news, the World Summit on the Information Society has been the center of discussion around the US controlled domain name registration model.

There has been growing concern across the Internet that the current domain name system might change driven by countries such as China, Iran and Brazil that want to control and restrict access to the Internet. But as Wired reported late last night, a last minute agreement was reached before the opening of the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis today. The good news is that there will be a U.N.-sponsored global forum to explore problems like spam and cybercrime. The bad news is that many attendees of the event are not convinced that much progress will really be made in terms of free speech and access in third-world countries. Read John Palfrey’s reporting from the summit for more information on the Tunis experience.

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